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Dave's Aquaponics Bio

 

1985

Drove my campervan to Southern Spain

1987

Bought a 10 acre organic smallholding (Finca) in the remote mountains of Andalucía, 45-minute walk from the nearest neighbour or village. See Note 2

1993

Moved back to the England

1994

Introduced to hydroponic food cultivation and began building back yard systems

1995

Received a Hons. Degree in ‘Electrical & Electronic Engineering’ before entering the corporate world and continued to build hobby hydroponic systems. See Professional IT qualifications and work history on LinkedIn

2012

Started aquaponics research whilst continuing to develop custom hydroponic systems

2014

Completed Permaculture Design Consultancy Course (PDC) with Geoff Lawton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Lawton

2013

Completed 5 day intensive Aquaponics course

2014

Bought a large polycarbonate greenhouse for the garden and custom built my first off-grid, 12 pod aquaponics system, using all my existing hydroponics experience

2015

Managed to acquire some polytunnel space in the local park and upscaled my Aquaponics system to incorporate 2 x 1000 Litre IBC tanks, with automated off-grid 12V systems including: Floating Raft, Vertical downpipes, Deep Water Culture (DWC) and Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)

2017

Moved the entire Aquaponics Setup, with fish, to St. Catherine's Plant Nursery in South Devon

2018

Started 'taoponics' Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/taoponics/

2019

Launched the horticultural side of ‘Three Treasures Living’ at St. Catherine’s Plant Nursery in South Devon, as part of a holistic and ethical lifestyle business.

 

Note 1:

My mother, Mari-Cruz Vazquez, is still living well at 92 - probably because she doesn't take any pharmaceutical drugs on a regular basis!  - and because she is wonderful :)

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Note 2:

The small-holding had an old stone shack, with two habitable rooms, and a big open fire. There was no electricity and the natural water supply was 10 minutes walk down a steep slope!

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We wanted to focus on the growing side of our 'self-sufficiency' ideal, since we had a lots of fruit trees to manage, and a decent sized vegetable garden.

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The land was peppered with over a hundred olive and almond trees, and a smattering of apricot, sweet chestnut, cherry, pomegranate and apple trees.

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Eventually, we decided to get a couple of chickens, for an egg supply, and keep the animal husbandry to a minimum as we already had enough work.

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Within a year we had 2 donkeys (Perico and Suzi), 2 dogs (Max and Yogi), 6 chickens, 6 sheep, 1 ram (the boss), 1 goat (Clara) plus stray cats :)

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